Chapter 3025 Trust
County Magistrate Lu, who had already vaguely sensed that something was wrong, secretly cursed Bai Shan for being "treacherous" when he learned that some people had even abandoned the rice they were harvesting in autumn and went to work in Beihai County, but he was unable to stop him.
After thinking about it, I decided to turn a blind eye and let it go.
But in order to prevent Bai Shan from snatching too many people from him, he also asked the yamen runners to check more refugees passing by and "guide them to Beihai County."
He currently does not have the ability to resettle these refugees, so why not give them to Bai Shan? He already has enough people, so he shouldn't snatch the ready-made people from him, right?
County Magistrate Lu had not expected that the small Beihai County would absorb these foreign populations like a whale.
They would first be settled in the official fields outside the city, which were the official fields of county magistrates of all dynasties and were also Bai Shan’s official fields now.
Perhaps to reduce disputes, or perhaps to give preferential treatment to the county magistrate, the area except for the county magistrate's official land was filled with vast wasteland and open fields.
The former Lu County Magistrate could not bear to see these lands go to waste, so he ordered people to cultivate more wasteland. Even after he was promoted and left, this piece of official land was still cultivated by someone.
It was a good thing for him when Bai Shan came.
Unfortunately, the tenants didn't seem to be very attentive and the yield was not very high.
Bai Shan could also understand that being a tenant for the government was not a very happy thing, so after he harvested the wheat from the summer harvest and the rice from the autumn harvest, he left enough for the three families to eat, and sold the rest to the county government.
The price is fair, and I neither take advantage of the county government nor let the county government take advantage of me.
Song Zhubu, who was just trying to take the opportunity to bribe Bai Shan, said:
You don't even want the money that's delivered to your door.
Now there are people everywhere near that piece of land. Bai Shan has people build a lot of thatched houses on the open ground for people to live in, and then asks them to reclaim the wasteland near his official land and use it as official land.
As for his official land, it has now been divided into pieces, some for planting winter wheat, some for digging ponds to raise fish, some for growing mulberry and hemp, and some better fields have been opened up and planted with vegetables.
There is currently no objection from the county government to this use of public resources for personal gain.
However, after working for a period of time, the recruited farmhands would be screened out and assigned in groups to work on the government-owned fields in each village.
Zhu Sanlang and his colleagues received their wages in the evening of the third day, a full forty cents.
The three of them were still very thin, but their spirits were very different from before. Because they were refugees before coming in and had a note from the medical department, although they were assigned to farming, they were assigned relatively light work.
In the words of the people who led them, "First take care of your health, then you can be useful later. Otherwise, if you hurt your health right from the start, who will work for the county government in the future?"
He said, "I didn't say that. It was spread from the county government office. It was said that the county magistrate said it."
Because Bai Shan came to check and ask questions from time to time, the workers did not dare to fight with each other. Even the yamen runners did not dare to be too harsh on them, for fear of leaving a bad impression on County Magistrate Bai.
Although County Magistrate Bai's methods were powerful, everyone knew from everything he did that he cared about the people, especially those under his jurisdiction, so even the yamen runners with resentful intentions did not dare to do anything.
Not to mention that County Magistrate Dong repeatedly reiterated his orders, and no one dared to disobey.
Zhu Sanlang received his 40-cent salary, immediately put it in his pocket, and ran to ask for leave from the clerk who was in charge of them.
"Going into town?" The clerk looked up at him, then at the two young men behind him, forcing a smile. "Are you going into town to buy something? What do you want to buy? We have everything here, clothes, shoes, and socks. Don't mind if the stitching isn't fine, but it's cheap. Ask around in the county town and see which shop sells ready-made clothes for only twenty wen. The fabric is good, and if the thread breaks, you can just buy some thread and sew it back and you'll be able to wear it."
Zhu Sanlang: ...Who buys clothes not to wear for three to five years? Who would buy clothes just for the price to fall?
He finally understood why the clothes in the county government were so cheap.
He quickly said, "I'm not buying anything. I'm going out to see my relatives. They came to Beihai County with me, and I don't know how they are doing now, so I want to go and see them."
He hesitated for a moment before asking, "I'd like to have them work in the county government office, but a few of them have children with them, and I wonder if the adults would accept them."
The clerk immediately said, "The child has no wages."
Zhu Sanlang: "...That's not what I meant. Children naturally don't want to be paid. If adults work, can children follow? Don't worry, they won't eat the county government's food. We will save our own rations to give to them."
The clerk said, "Isn't the food provided by the county government? You are all refugees, right? The county government has ready-made regulations. You can just bring your people with you, including your children."
He turned his head to glance at the hourglass and said, "It's getting late. The county yamen should be closing by now, but Zhao Li usually leaves later than others. If you go early, you might be able to stay here today."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Sanlang took the note and rushed into the city with his two friends. They found two people in an alley not far from the city gate. "Where are the others? Hurry and call them back. Let's go to the county government office to register together."
The two men looked at the drastically changed appearance of Zhu Sanlang and the other two, and were extremely surprised. "Are these new clothes? And new shoes too! Sanlang, are you rich now?"
Zhu Sanlang slapped their dirty hands away and said, "Don't touch me, you will get it too. Hurry up and call everyone back."
The two of them finally reacted and asked hurriedly, "Is going to the county government office reliable?"
"Reliable," Zhu Sanlang took out the copper coins that were still warm in his arms, flashed them in front of their eyes, and then put them away carefully. He said, "The wages are settled every three days. We were there two days ago and it happened to be paid. All three of us got some."
The two listened with envy, and then immediately went out to look for him. They did not look for him in each alley, but went straight down the street, running and shouting in their hometown dialect, "Come back, Sanlang is back, come back quickly——"
A few people squatting in the back alley picking through the restaurant's slop heard it, immediately stuffed the small half of the steamed bun they had just dug out into their mouths, turned around and ran out...
The children on the street who were stretching out their hands and saying auspicious words to passers-by also heard it, turned their heads to look at their relatives, and they immediately came forward, picked up the children and ran towards the city gate.
A quarter of an hour later, a group of dirty, breathless people blocked Zhao Ming at the gate of the county government office as he was about to leave the office and go home.
Zhao Ming: ...
He looked at the sun setting in the west, then looked at the group of people who were staring at him eagerly, and finally turned around and led them into the county government office.
Including the children, there are eighteen people in total, which is quite a lot.
Because there were so many people and they were all refugees, Zhao Ming personally took them out after registering them, but he did not go to the medical office. Instead, he went to the side door of the backyard of the county government office and knocked on the door.
After a while, Bai Shan and Zhou Man, dressed in casual clothes, came out to see.
(End of this chapter)
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